January 2015

01/25/2015

Upper secondary schools with special emphases in arts or sports continue to be extremely popular, with far more students applying than the schools can admit. The special interest schools are now concerned about the impact of State-imposed savings on them.

Kallio Upper Secondary School of Performing Arts in Helsinki thronged with crowds on Friday, as it opened its doors for visiting students and parents ahead of the central application process for Finnish secondary schools.

Sixteen-year-old Emilia Hettula journeyed all the way from Lapland with her father to check out the school, as such arts instruction was not available in her northern municipality of Kittilä.

The soaring popularity of upper secondary schools with special emphases in subjects like music, visual or performing arts has made them into somewhat elite institutions.

Less than half of the hopeful applicants make it into these schools. In addition to competence in the schools’ special areas, students also need a high grade point average to get in.

Helena Helenius-Lamminparras, Principle of the Kallio School for Performing Arts says that students must come with a real passion for performing – at her school, the arts are not a mere add-on or hobby.

Savings to impact special interest schools?

There are over 70 special interest upper secondary schools in Finland, most of them in the South.

Now these institutions are concerned about government savings, as the Ministry of Education and Culture just announced it was going to investigate the need of these special schools.

Defending the diversity that such schools bring to Finnish education, the Principle of Helsinki’s Upper Secondary School of Visual Arts Pirkko Majakangas was hopeful that the government would continue to appreciate their contribution to educating and training young people.

01/23/2015

Via her blog OtraEducacion, Rosa María Torres compares Cuba and Finland. Click through for many links and the full post in both English and Spanish. Excerpt:

What do Cuba and Finland have in common?

Two very different countries, one in the Caribbean and the other one in Europe, with very different histories and cultures, very different political, social and education systems, and yet both sharing high international recognition for educational and other social achievements.

Best countries to be a mother and raise a child - region/world

▸ Cuba and Finland are the best countries - in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in the world, respectively - to be a mother and raise a child, according to Oxfam's State of the World's Mothers Report 2013 (Cuba ranked 33 worldwide).

High suicide rates

▸ Cuba and Finland have high suicide rates. Together with Uruguay, Cuba has the highest suicide rate in Latin America and the Caribbean. Finland has one of the highest suicide rates in Europe and in the world. (See list with WHO data here. See my post: Educación y suicidio).

Free education

▸ Cuba's and Finland's education systems are public and free, covering all student-related costs, from initial education to the end of higher education.

High investment in education

▸ In the Latin American region, Cuba is the country with he highest investment in education in relation to its GDP. Cuba invests 16,3% of its GDP in education, followed by Bolivia, Honduras, Costa Rica and Argentina. (Source: ECLAC)

Equity first: good education for ALL, nobody left behind

▸ Both Cuba and Finland are egalitarian societies. Equity is the main concern. Nobody should be left out or left behind. "Every school a good school" is Finland's motto, and Cuba's as well.

Boredom and education

▸ It is not rare to hear/read comments referring to both Cuba and Finland as "boring" places - Finland because of its weather; Cuba because of its political system and its precarious entertainment resources - and mentioning this as one of the factors that would explain people's dedication to education, studying, and reading. In the case of Cuba, we have seen this argument mentioned in reports by US academics and researchers.

Top performers in education - region/world

▸ Cuba and Finland have been top performers in student achievement tests in school: Cuba in LLECE (Latin American Laboratory for Assessment of the Quality of Education - Laboratorio Latinoamericano de Evaluación de la Calidad de la Educación), co-ordinated by the regional UNESCO office in Santiago, and Finland in PISA (OECD Programme for International Student Assessment).

Finland is well known for its consecutive high performance in PISA, which assesses competencies in Reading, Mathematics and Sciences among 15 year-olds. PISA has been applied every three years since 2000.

Ten Latin American and Caribbean countries have participated in PISA so far (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay). All of them have ended up at the bottom of PISA results.

Most Latin American countries do not participate in PISA and some have expressed concerns and reservations about it. See: Critical Voices of PISA in Latin America. LLECE tests have been applied three times so far:

- The First Study (PERCE) was applied in 1997 - Language, Mathematics, and associated factors for third and fourth grade primary school students - in 13 countries.

- The Second Study (SERCE) was applied in 2006 in 16 countries plus the state of Nuevo León in Mexico. In total, 200,000 third and sixth grade students in 3,000 schools took the test, which evaluated student achievement in Mathematics, Reading and Writing, and Natural Sciences.

- A Third Study (TERCE) was applied in 2013 in 15 countries plus the state of Nuevo León (Mexico). Cuba did not participate this time.

Everyone knows about Finland's performance in PISA. But few people know -- or is ready to acknowledge -- that Cuba has ranked number one in LLECE tests. It is important to reiterate that LLECE tests are applied to both public and private schools (Cuba is the only country in the region that has only public, state-run, schools).

01/16/2015

The best-paid professors in Finland work at the Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT), according to a study conducted by the Finnish Union of University Professors. The study found that the average monthly pay of a professor at LUT was at 7,583 euros [US$8,772] last year, more than 200 euros more than the runner-up, the Swedish Svenska Handelshogskola in Helsinki. Tenured professors at LUT had even higher paychecks, at an average 8,022 euros[US$9,280].

The LUT was found to have the highest average wages across the sciences, but equivalent pay in the technical university in Tampere, for instance, was as much as 800 euros less than in Lappeenranta.

Average pay has also seen the highest rise in Lappeenranta within the last ten years. From 2003, the salaries of the LUT’s professors rose as much as 68 percent. In that same time, all universities across the board saw pay rises of just 45 percent.

The LUT average works out to US$105,264 annually—probably a reasonable salary for an established professor at a major American or Canadian university, at least in engineering and technology. The Finns, however, likely pay much more in taxes than their North American colleagues.

South Africa regularly finds itself languishing near the bottom of global basic education rankings. In the 2013/14 World Economic Forum (WEF) global competitiveness report, we ranked 146th out of 148 countries for basic education.

By contrast, Finland’s education system repeatedly features near the top of the world rankings. In the same WEF report, Finland took the top spot for primary and secondary education. Finland’s education success has been attributed to many factors, not the least of them being the country’s affluence and willingness to invest in educating its education. I have a different explanation.

What makes the Finnish education system so successful is the high level of trust and collaboration among the leading players. I have been struck by the contrasts in trust levels between Finnish school principals, teachers, parents and learners, and between their South African counterparts.

Power struggles restrict trust

In 2012, I interviewed 40 school principals in the Western Cape and Mpumalanga. In these one-on-one interviews, a recurring theme was power struggles between principals and teachers, with the unions having a significant influence. The principals are supposed to be accountable for the performance of their schools but say they lack the authority to make the teachers work better. The unions also protect the teachers against disciplinary action. There was a marked lack of trust between the principals and the teachers.

In similar interviews with Finnish principals, I had very different results. What I picked up was that the concept of trust was the critical success factor at Finnish schools. Yes, they have money. However, trust and respect between the parents and teachers, the principals and teachers, and the learners and teachers, was strongly in evidence.

Looking for the missing link

Our the initial findings have prompted us to start examining issues such as the concept of trust, motivation and accountability at South African schools in more detail. Our masters and PhD students are looking at various themes, such as how school principals’ families and home lives influence their school role, and how motivated teachers are to develop themselves.

There are also plans to extend research on trust at schools by conducting individual interviews with school principals in the North West and Gauteng. Apart from performing qualitative research, we would like to do quantitative studies on how many schools have problems with trust.

The intention is to incorporate the findings into teacher training at the Potchefstroom campus, possibly by using mentors, simulation and video recordings of role-playing situations where students are required to show trust and respect in communicating.

The concepts of trust and respect are difficult to measure and desired behaviour may also differ from culture to culture. Local context plays a role and we have to be sensitive to cultural differences. Still, the concept of trust is a universal human characteristic. Bringing it to life at South African schools could make all the difference to our ailing education system.

I somewhat assumed that the lack of physical activity in schools was an American problem—a natural byproduct of long school days and limited opportunities for recess. But when I started teaching in Finland, I saw the same thing happening at my public school, Ressun peruskoulu, a bilingual "comprehensive" (grades one to nine) school in downtown Helsinki with nearly 400 students.

At first, this didn’t add up. Kids in Finland have short school days and frequent 15-minute breaks—typically there’s one after each 45-minute lesson. And even though the breaks keep them more focused in the classroom, they don’t necessarily keep them more active at school.

On the playground—sunshine or snowfall—I’d find many young Finnish children spending recess passively. Some would be tapping away on their smart phones, hooked by the latest mobile game, while others would be huddled together, sitting down on benches or standing in small groups and chitchatting. Usually, I could find a handful of students playing tag or soccer. But the number of passive kids typically seemed to exceed the number of active ones. In the hallways of my school, older students were often slouched against the wall or even lying down, waiting for their next lesson to begin.

Finnish researchers recently confirmed my observations. On the "Finnish Report Card 2014 on Physical Activity for Children and Youth," kids in Finland received a "D" for overall physical activity levels. In 2013, one study revealed that only half of the participating Finnish elementary students met the national guideline of engaging in at least one hour of "moderate-to-vigorous" physical activities each day. Among middle school students, the figure was even worse: 17 percent.

Finland wasn’t the only country that did poorly on its physical activity report card. On the "2014 United States Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth," America received a "D-" for overall physical activity levels. Roughly a quarter of American children ages six through 15 are active an hour per day on at least five days of the week, according to the report card.

Though children in both countries suffer from low activity levels, a key difference exists between Finland and the United States: Hundreds of schools across this tiny Nordic nation are now endeavoring to keep kids active throughout the day through a relatively new government initiative called "Finnish Schools on the Move." This experiment could serve as an example of what America, where problems such as childhood obesity are on the rise, could do to get kids more active.

Between 2010 and 2012, 45 Finnish schools piloted the program. And the results were hopeful, demonstrating schools can increase the physical activity of children as long as they make the effort. According to a survey conducted after the pilot program, half of participating elementary school students and a third of middle school students reported an increase in physical activity.

01/06/2015

Do not expect to see handprint pictures or scribbled crayon drawings decorating the classrooms of the capital’s newest nursery.

It will be a practice at the Kipina nursery to not hang children’s artwork on walls.

“Our concept is minimalist,” said Lynn Brucker, the Canadian co-director of Kipina, which means “spark” in Finnish.

“Occupational therapists have shown that a lot of colour and a lot of clutter disturbs children and makes them very aggressive.

“We wanted a nursery that was soothing to children, and so we have pops of colour from our logo in certain places, natural wood floors, and a very open and welcoming environment.”

The Kipina curriculum was devised by co-director Cathy McCauley, also from Canada, together with Ms Brucker and co-directors Kieran Galvin and Ali Irfan.

The programme draws on educational philosophies and practices from Finland, which regularly ranks among the top performing countries when it comes to international standardised tests.

“One of the things that research shows very clearly anywhere in the world that you are is that there’s educational excellence coming out of Finnish schools,” said Mrs McCauley, Kipina’s programme director.

“We’ve taken some of the philosophies and the key one is they teach kids to love learning because once you love learning, you will learn anything and you will learn forever. So that’s the premise and the heart of our programme as well,” Ms Brucker said.

The Kipina nursery is housed in a large, yellow villa in Al Bateen. It has a large grassy front garden surrounded by plants and flowers, and a colourful playground with slides, animal springers and a small merry-go-round.

“We wanted as organic a look as possible outside,” said Ms Brucker. “We have an eco-slash-sustainability component. Connection to everything is very important for children to learn, especially nature and animals, to know that we’re connected.”

The interior features one large baby room with a rubber floor, six classrooms, a reading nook and an imaginarium, a room full of computers, smart boards and light tables.

“We’re trying to set a different tone,” said Ms Brucker. “We’re keeping plastic to a minimum.”

For its inaugural term, the school is admitting up to 30 children, aged four months up to four years. Its capacity is 130, but Ms Brucker said: “We have targets so that we stay small and focus on the quality.”

01/05/2015

Over the holidays people can tend to hibernate a little--especially at this time of year. They're catching up on the sleep they miss out on during the daily grind, but modern technology might be throwing a spanner in the works.

Juulia Ollikainen from Kirkkonummi usually goes to bed at around 10 pm--but during the holidays she stays up until midnight. Her routine is a familiar teenage cycle--games, TV, reading on the internet and chatting with friends.

That's a problem, because the blue light emitted from led screens has been shown in studies to disrupt sleep. It works by inhibiting the production of the so-called "sleep hormone" melatonin--and the effect is especially pronounced among teenagers.

In Finland a study by Jyväskylä University found that sleep problems among school-age children have doubled in the last two decades. That's a phenomenon that Ollikainen reports among her colleagues, especially on Monday mornings.

Her parents, on the other hand, try to keep a different rhythm. They go to bed at the same time whether they're on holiday or heading to work--and that eases the transition back to the working week.

That's the challenge for kids and parents alike--with many of them set to head back to school on Wednesday.

01/01/2015

Even the most advanced economies rely on personal connections -- what the Chinese call guanxi, relationships through which you can do real business with people you trust. So we've already created the beginning of a worldwide network of pro-Canada alumni. We need to develop that network and expand it exponentially, if only to compete with American and other networks. The way to build such a network is to make our education system even more attractive to foreigners.

We wouldn't be pioneers. Finland (with about the same population as B.C.) has simultaneously enjoyed a world reputation as an education superpower while its current high-tech economy has run into trouble. The Finns can't go back to selling raw logs and paper. So they're aggressively exporting their education.

A Finnish international school is up and running in Qatar. Finland's education minister recently signed a deal with Saudi Arabia to deliver technical and vocational education to young Saudis. Finnish teaching materials have turned Italian elementary students into eager, top-ranking math whizzes.

What's maddening about their success is that we send our educators to Helsinki to learn the Finns' secrets, only to find the Finns acquired those secrets in Alberta and B.C. They take our teaching expertise more seriously than we ourselves do.

A long-term investment with a big payoff

The Finns also see education as a long-term investment, a cost of doing business as an advanced economy. Education is free from daycare to graduate school -- not only for Finns, but anyone else who wants an education there. Since many post-secondary programs are in English, this brings in hordes of bright young foreign students. About half of them go home as friends of Finland; the other half stay, settle down, and help build their new country.